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The 2015 Billboard Music Awards will be held in next month on May 17th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The Billboard, a publication and music chart is holding the event and honor musicians and the music industry leaders. Started in 1989 it has been held in December each year until 2007. After a brief hiatus, the show reappeared again in 2011 and has been held in May of each year.

2015 show will be hosted by Ludacris and first time co-host Chrissy Teigen and will be telecast on ABC. Fox telecasted the event until 2011 and dropped out due to various conflicts. Artists are selected based on year-end chart performance based on Nielson data including sales, number of downloads, and total airplay. Some of the award categories include Top Male and Female Artist, Top Album, Top Male Singer and Top Female Singer. Taylor Swift leads the list of finalists with 14 nominations and other nominees include Sam Smith, Iggy Azalea, Meghan Trainor and many others. Finalists were announced on April 7, 2015. The show will feature many artists during the telecast.

Janet Jackson leads the pack with most winnings at 33 awards during the entire history of the show.

The 87th Academy Awards better known as Oscars sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences were held on February 22, 2015 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California. Actor Neil Patrick Harris hosted the show for the first time. Awards were given in 24 categories and more than 37 million just in the United States watched the show live while countless many other viewers enjoyed the night of film celebration worldwide.

Birdman or otherwise called the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance won four awards including the Best Picture. So did the Grand Budapest Hotel winning four awards including the Achievement in Costume Design. Whiplash won three awards and there were many others winning one award each. The Best foreign-language film went to “Ida” by Pawel Pawlikowski. Well received by the American audience, the American Sniper nominated for the best picture but won an Oscar for Achievement for Sound Editing. Nominated for many awards, the Boyhood won an Oscar for Best supporting Actress for Patricia Arquette. Best Actress award went to Julianne Moore for Still Alice while Best Actor award claimed by Eddie Redmayne for the Theory of Everything. The Best Director award went to Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for Birdman.

The 30th Independent Spirit Awards ceremony took place on February 21, 2015 celebrating films made in 2014. The Independent Spirit Awards was founded in 1984 by a group of independent filmmakers and awards are dedicated to the cause. The award itself is a symbol of the struggle independent film maker face. A non-profit group known as Film Independent holds the awards ceremony. A ceremony inside a tent on the beach of Santa Monica, California is held usually the day before the Academy Awards. It is currently being televised on Bravo network and Independent Film Channel.

Categories of awards include Best Film, Best Director, Best Male Lead, Best Female Lead, Best Foreign Film and many others. Birdman and Boyhood were in the running for the 30th Best Film Award and Birdman edge out the rival at the last minute winning the award. Birdman also won the Best Actor for Michael Keaton and the Best Cinematography Award. Boyhood won the Best Director Award as well as the Best Supporting Actress Award. The Best Actress Award went to Julianne Moore for her portrayal of an early onset of Alzheimer’s woman in the film, Still Alice. The Best Documentary was given to Laura Poitras for her portrayal of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in Citizenfour.

Imagine an award that rewards a bad movie of the year. That is exactly what the Golden Raspberry Awards or commonly called Razzies is all about. It recognizes worst movies of the year. Founded in 1980, the annual Razzies are held in Los Angeles usually a day before the Academy Awards. The award which is about the size of a raspberry that sits on a super 8mm film and spray painted with gold color. The first award ceremony was held on March 31, 1981 in the living room of the founder John J. B. Wilson and will hold its 35th ceremony on February 21, 2015.

The 2015 Golden Raspberry Award nominees include Transformers: Age of Extinction, Saving Christmas by Kirk Cameron, and The Legend of Hercules. In addition to the Worst Picture, the Razzies are also awarded for the Worst Actor, Worst Actress, Worst Supporting Actor, Worst Supporting Actress, Worst Screen Combo, Worst Screenplay, Worst Director and Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel. From time to time other awards such as Worst Career Award were also given. Some of the criticism of the award includes that members of the selection committee are not required to watch any of the nominations and anyone can join the Golden Raspberry Foundation.

Comedy and drama landscape is changing. For 2014 Emmy considerations Netflix submitted its hit series Orange is the New Black as a comedy while HBO submitted its successful True Detective as a drama. These and other considerations are now forcing Emmys to revise its criteria. The Television Academy is now proposing to change 60-minute series to be drama and 30-minute series to be comedies. This reflects the changing climate of the industry where more and more content are distributed through Netflix and HBO.

If an episode of a series is 30 minutes or less, it will be defined as comedies. Similarly those episodes in series that exceed 30 minutes will be a drama. However, if a producer has concerns over the criteria, he or she can petition the nine-member Academy panel. This panel consists of five members from the industry leaders appointed by the Chairman of the Television Academy and four members appointed by the Board of Governors. A two-thirds majority is required for approval of a petition and to be put into an alternative category. Changes also been made to the Guest Actor category requiring less than 50 percent appearance. Also the miniseries category has been renamed as “Limited Series.”

The Sony Picture Entertainment hack attack in late November 2014 shocked the entire entertainment industry. Early indications reveal that the North Korean government believed to be behind the attack and the hackers are attempting to stop the planned Christmas Day release of the movie, “The Interview.” Unfortunately sensitive and personal emails between key employees are also being released by the hackers embarrassing many of them and offering apologies to President Obama, actress Angelina Jolie and many others. Employees of Sony Pictures Entertainment are also impacted due to salary and other personal information that has been released by hackers. Artists who are involved with Sony and hold many contracts are on edge due to fear of release of their contract information. Hackers also released some of future films from Sony Picture Entertainment online.

Due to safety concerns Movie theaters are afraid of screening The Interview and Sony Pictures may cancel the planned release. However, the government is urging the Sony Pictures not to give into threats. The attack will have crippling effect on the movie as well as other parts of the entertainment industry. If movie goers react negatively to the threat it may have lasting impact on the industry.

It is that time of the year that infamous American Idol making news again. Season 14 of the talented singing contest is due to start on January 7, 2015 on Fox. Auditions for the show took place in five cities across the United States starting in June 18, 2014. In addition, an audition bus tour visited several other cities. Three judges, Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Harry Connick, Jr. and the host of the show, Ryan Seacrest from Season 13 will be turning. But there are some talks about some changes to how the show is broadcast. It is anticipated that starting from Top 10 the show will be aired only one night a week giving the results of the contest on the same night.

During the Season 13 broadcast, results show was limited to 30 minutes on the second night. Many thinks that in competition with other similar shows such as Dancing With The Stars and So You Think You Can Dance, American Idol at some point of the season will limit itself to one night a week. Competition shows were recently changed to one night a week. People can’t wait for the start of the show.

Many consider Golden Globes as the starting point for awards season. On December 11, 2014, the NBC will announce nominees for the 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, California and the winners will be announced on January 11, 2015 at a gala at the same venue. Show has been held at this venue since 1961. The show will be hosted by last year’s hosts, Tina Fay and Amy Poehler returning for the third time as co-hosts. Awards will be presented on 25 categories including best picture, best director, best screen play, best drama series, best comedy series and many more and each category comes with five nominations. Show will be telecast in 167 countries. Golden Globes considered to be third popular award show behind Oscars and Grammy Awards. First Golden Globe was held in January 1944 honoring best filmmaking achievements in 1943.

Golden Globe honors best in Television and film and is a good predictor for Oscar nominations. 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association will be selecting the excellence in TV and film that includes both domestic and foreign content. The film Doctor Zhivago and few others go into the history book by winning five awards.

The 1939 American musical production of the Wizard of Oz will celebrate its 75th anniversary in August 2014. The whimsical classic production by the Metro Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) was based on a well-known novel of 1900 by L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The movie adaptation based on the novel was first played at the Grumman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California. People lined up the street to get a glimpse of Judy Garland, Toro the dog, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley and many others. The whimsical classic made history with its Technicolor, storytelling, unusual characters, musical score, and became a part of popular American culture. It is the most watched movie ever.

At the time of the release movie production cost totaled more the $2.7 million and the revenue totaled just over $3 million. It was the most expensive movie production by MGM at the time. However, the November 3, 1956 television introduction of the movie on CBS led to an annual tradition of watching the movie. It won several Academy Awards including the Best Song and the Best Original Music Score but lost the Best Movie Award to another MGM film, Gone with the Wind. The movie has many other notable recognition to its credit.

Started airing in July 2005, So You Think You Can Dance is an American television dance competition aired by Fox. Show is not limited to the United States and many other countries worldwide conduct similar shows under license from So You Think You Can Dance franchise. More than ten million viewers have been recorded to watch the show in the US. It is top American TV show in the summer. Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe who produces the famous American Idol also produce the So You Think You Can Dance. Cat Deeley, a former British TV personality hosts the show.

Auditions for the show start in number of cities throughout the US and selected dancers are put through many different dances later. Finally, small group of dancers chosen and their ability in many forms of dances are tested in groups, duets and solo dances. Their performances are voted by the TV audience and low score candidates are eliminated throughout the competition reaching a small number as the finalists. They will be again tested for their dance ability in variety of dances including jazz, hip-hop, ballroom, and classical. Finally the winner is chosen and the winner gets a cash prize and the title of America’s Favorite Dancer.